Who Gets an Education?
The United States Constitution gives all people in the country the right to education regardless of race, religion, or gender. The European Commission (European Union) also states that everyone has the right to education. Although it may be in writing that education is a fundamental right, what is actually happening in practice?
Minority students across Europe and The United States are disproportionately taken out of general education classrooms and placed elsewhere. These students are moved into special education classrooms or classrooms for students who do not speak that country's official language. The problem? Many of these students are wrongfully placed in these classrooms. Students who speak English are being placed in English as a new language (ENL) classrooms. Students without disabilities are being placed in special education classrooms. It is important to note that students will not benefit from these classrooms when they are not needed. Students who do not need special education or language services lose valuable learning time when they are pulled out of the general education classroom. The school system interferes with the student's ability to receive an equal education. |
What is the European Union?The European Union consists of 27 different European Countries united together by treaty. The European Union is founded on values of human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and human rights (European Commission). |
Figure 1“A National Academy of Science (NAS) study of ethnic representation in special education (Donovan & Cross, 2002) indicated that, in that year, across ethnic groups and disability categories, this number placed African American children at the highest risk of receiving a disability label — a risk index of 14.28% as contrasted with 13.10% for American Indians/Alaskan Natives, 12.10% for Whites, 11.34% for Hispanics, and 5.31% for Asians.” (Harry & Klinger, 2014)
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What is a Risk Index?The risk index shows the probability and impact of an event occurring ("Risk Indices", 2021). |
What is Freedom?
How is education an issue of freedom? When students are facing discrimination and removed from their general education classrooms their freedom is limited by the education system. Students are being stripped of the negative and positive liberty by the school systems. The school system is interfering with students' ability to receive an equal education to their peers. Often times, students do not have a choice whether or not they move into differentiated classrooms. These students have a lessened sense of positive liberty because they are not allowed to make decisions for themselves.
It is important to recognize that discrimination in education is a race issue. Minority students are more likely to be placed in differentiated classrooms where it is not necessary. Rather than a lack of freedom, this presents the issue of white freedom. White students are not being misplaced in differentiated classrooms like many of their non-white peers. The majority of school administration in the United States is white, "In the 2011–12 school year, a majority of public school principals were white (80 percent), while 10 percent were black and 7 percent were Hispanic" (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). White Administrators may be using their white freedom in order to control and exclude minority students and their education. |
TerminologyNegative Liberty - freedom to the degree in which no one or no group of people interferes with a person's activity (Berlin, 1998). Positive Liberty - freedom to the degree in which a person is able to make their own decisions and not be acted upon by external forces or other people (Berlin, 1998). White Freedom - a freedom that only exists for white people caused by a deep-rooted history of racial hierarchy. White freedom allows white people to freely make decision for themselves but also the ability to control/exclude/dominate others. (Poe and Stovall, 2021) |
Why We Care
Sources
Berlin, Isaiah. “Two Concepts of Liberty.” Essay. In The Proper Study of Mankind: An Anthology of Essays, edited by Henry Hardy and Roger Hausheer, 2-4, 8-10, 13, 26-29. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
“European Commission, Official Website.” European Commission. European Union. Accessed March 30, 2022. https://ec.europa.eu/info/index_en.
Harry, Beth, and Janette K. Klingner. Why Are so Many Minority Students in Special Education?: Understanding Race & Disability In Schools. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 2014.
Poe, Marshall, and Tyler Stovall. The Idea of Freedom and Race: A Discussion with Tyler Stovall. Other. New Books Network. Princeton University Press, 2021. https://newbooksnetwork.com/white-freedom.
“Risk Indices.” IBM. IBM Corporation, March 3, 2021. https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/eslm/10.1.0?topic=scorecards-risk-indices.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, Policy and Program Studies Service, The State of Racial Diversity in the Educator Workforce, Washington, D.C. 2016. https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/highered/racial-diversity/state-racial-diversity-workforce.pdf